Trying to find a Project Manager for your business? Here’s a guide to help you find the best candidate.
Searching for a project manager can take a lot of your time and energy so it’s important to know exactly who and what kind you’re looking for. The time you spend going through multiple applications and examining every single resume or cv needs to be worth it.
You need to find someone with the right competencies and who will be committed to their roles and responsibilities. Your new Project Manager should be able to help the entire team with their skills and become a reliable asset to your business. Most importantly, they should be the right fit for you.
Know Who You Want to Work With
First of all, envision the kind of person you want as a new addition to your team or the new leader for the team. Start with discovering the dynamics in your existing work environment. For instance, at Kaizen Project Manager (KPM), our team comes from different backgrounds and education with diverse skills which contribute to the success of our projects. Notably, we adhere to the same standards, especially for our projects. We collaborate well because of the values we share, the complementing attitudes we have and the goals we decided to achieve as a team.
So think about the amazing relationship you have with your team, the company. Determine a standard in terms of work ethic, character, and skill. A great Project Manager would be the one who can best integrate with the business.
Your New Project Manager
Think of this as a tripart checklist as you browse through your Project Manager candidates.
Roles and Responsibilities
- Planning
- Leadership
- Delegation
- Management
- Deliverables
- Monitoring Progress
- Documentation
- Quality Assurance
- Time Management
- Planning Ahead
- Searching for the Best Tools
Wrike and nTask have similar schemes on the roles and responsibilities of a project manager. It is noted however that the duties of a Project Manager may vary depending on the nature of the business and the projects they acquire.
Planning
Planning is vital to ensure the success of your projects. This includes creating a project workflow, with a timeline and budget analysis. Ask your candidate their experience in project planning. And if you want, try to ask how they would plan a project for you with a given scenario or a previous project you have already accomplished, to see how their approach fits you.
Leadership
Ask them how they would integrate with your team. A good Project Manager would embrace your team and guide them to achieve successful projects. A team leader understands the value of their team and would be able to recognize their efforts. They also have to evaluate strengths and areas of improvement of team members.
Delegation
Task delegation is directly related to good leadership. A good leader would know who best fits a task. Ask how they would delegate tasks. Do they give tasks to somebody who has expertise on the subject? Or would they be willing to risk and give a task to someone who’s a beginner?
Management
After creating it execute the project plan without missing deadlines. The Project Manager is in charge of inspecting the deliverables (action items) and monitoring the process of the project as well as its documentation. Make sure that outputs are maintained at high standards and delivered promptly. Of course, there would be unexpected challenges when problems and setbacks arise. Know if your candidate has experienced challenges during project implementation and how they have addressed it. Then assess whether the solutions they can offer might help with the present challenges you currently face.
Plan Ahead
In addition to planning for projects. Your new Project Manager should be able to plan for the future. These plans are made with the intent for prospective clients, new projects, process development, and improved goals of the business. It would be great to have your new Project Manager have the same vision you do for the business.
Use the best tools
Utilize project management tools that help deliver high-quality results. These tools are efficient and effective for improving project workflow:
- ASANA
- ClickUp
- WordPress CMS
- Canva
- Adobe Creative
- Airtable
- Google Workspace
- Kajabi
- Mail Chimp
- Active Campaign
- Google Analytics
Qualities
- Communicate like a pro
- Set expectations and never abandon them
- Know when to pull in a subject matter expert
- Be your team’s biggest fan
- Keep learning
According to TeamGantt the above mentioned are core qualities associated with Project Managers. These are common but essential traits that they acquire through experience. They are also valuable indicators that a candidate has enough competence to lead a team and deliver high-quality products in time.
More importantly, it should be evident that they are driven to help in reaching goals and push the business to succeed.
Skills
Recognize their skills. A Project Manager should have a diverse set of skills to fit different projects and should be open to continuous learning to become more adept. Their skills will also be measured on how well they uphold their roles and responsibilities.
- Leadership and Direction
- Communication and Negotiation
- Management: Time and Task Management
- Budgeting
- Problem Solving
- Expertise in Project Management Tools
Moreover, your Project Manager must have training and certification in subjects such as:
- Project Management Training
- Project Management Certification
- Project Risk Management
- Project Contract Management
- Fundamentals of Digital Marketing
- Digital Marketing Strategy
Identify these kills mixed with the appropriate qualities. When you do mark that candidate, they might be what you’ve been looking for.
We understand that you only want the best Project Manager. Keep in mind that it’s also critical to assess if they fit well with your business endeavors.
If you’re currently searching for “the one”, we hope you benefit from this article.
Whether you have found the best Project Manager or still looking for one, share your experience with us. If you need further support, contact us.
Together, let’s discover solutions that fit you.